Iconic Gowns: ‘Naked Illusion’ Reveals Bob Mackie’s Journey

metroweekly.com:

Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion.Directed by Matthew Miele (Always at the Carlyle), the film, available to rent or purchase on Prime, thrives on fabulous clips and sketches of Mackie’s decades-long parade of iconic creations for the likes of Cher, Diana Ross, Elton John, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, Mitzi Gaynor, Bette Midler, and Beyoncé, supported by candid interviews with performers and muses who have worn his sequined, beaded, and embroidered designs.Miele presents fresh sit-downs with a few surprising subjects, as well as many of the one-name-only divas you might expect to see in a Mackie retrospective: Cher, P!nk, Elton, Miley (shown dazzling the 2024 Grammys crowd in a sizzling Mackie gown).Lawrence wore Mackie-designed costumes every Emmy-winning week of The Carol Burnett Show, and adds great personal insight in the film, as does Burnett herself, who, apparently, didn’t know her dear friend Mackie designed Marilyn Monroe’s infamous nude-illusion “Happy Birthday, Mr.

President” dress.One thing Burnett does know, she insists, is that Bob Mackie should have an Oscar by now. She lets loose a hilarious rant about the designer, nominated for an Academy Award in 1982 for musical Pennies from Heaven, losing to the running outfits of Chariots of Fire.“I was shocked because Carol, she didn’t know about the Marilyn Monroe dress, right?” says Miele. “Bob’s a very modest guy, and they’ve had an enduring friendship, but she didn’t know a lot about his career.

And I said, ‘Yeah, you know, he probably should have been celebrated a bunch more with different awards.’“And then she launches into [her] beef with the Academy, saying that he should have won for Pennies from Heaven.